Tracy Sundlun (Rock N Roll Founder), Jorge Torres Trying to Save Foot Locker Nationals

Footlocker died when NXN started up. Its existed in name only since then but wasn’t anywhere close to being the same. Honestly, just let it end. Never getting the good ole days back

Rock N Roll San Diego was one of the fastest races in the US its first few years

but

World Road Running Championships San Diego couldn't be described as anything other than an abject failure.

I hope they can save the footlocker meet. It will be a lot of work getting sponsors, hosting regionals, etc. If they put in the effort they did for world road running championship, I don't have high hopes.

I'm a bit confused. Is this group trying to (1) just set up a replacement "in spirit" to FL -- i.e., a "national championship" at Balboa in December (and I guess regionals) that would try to be what FL was? or are they (2) actually appealing to FL to let them use the branding etc. so it can be a direct continuation?

If (1), then it'd clearly not be the same meet, and given that so much of the meet's remaining draw was its history/pedigree, it's hard to see the appeal when even that link has been cut. If (2), whatever new sponsor they found would definitely want their own branding all over the event, and wouldn't want to co-brand with a company that still exists (in some form) but is no longer paying anything -- I've never heard of anything like that. So either way, it wouldn't be "saving the meet."

Going to be a tough year with nike having nxn and usatf xc together already. I think if this meet continues they should expand the field to maybe 15 people per region. 60 kids is still small. What would the new name be?

Kinney

Footlocker

Champs

Footlocker

Maybe they should just rename it High School XC Nationals brought to you by whatever sponsor it is.

“THE OFFICIAL High School Cross-Country Championship in San Diego.”

😁

Nike thought they could just start a new CC national meet, give the kids a bunch of free Nike clothing, and *BAM* Footlocker would be gone. That was 2004. Footlocker existed for 21 more years and its demise had nothing to do with the startup of NXN. That is like saying the US boycott of the 1980 Olympics caused the Soviets to pull out of Afghanistan ... in 1989.

Tracy Sundlun. What a blast from the past in NYC. Remember him running the MAC meets in the original armory and then wearing wild colored pants at Millrose and other indoor track meets.

This is going to be like my 9 year old neice's gymnastics competitions where every single week in multiple locations, there is some sort of "National Championships".

This week, in Atlanta, is the "National Gymnastics Association Southeast Girls U-12 National Championships"

This week in Orlando is the "Federation of Girls Gymnastics Florida U-12 National Championships"

This week in Raleigh is the "Greater Central North Carolina Girls Gymnastics National Championships" which is NOT to be confused with next weekends "North Carolina Regional Gymnastics Federation National Championships" , which is also held in Raleigh.

As much as it pains to me say it, I agree with briguy. Its time to let it go.

It's already late August. I can't imagine it would be possible to plan out and set up 4 large regional meets and a national meet before the end of November. And the regional qualification is the most important part - if they try to make an invitational then the claim of being a 'true' national championship is hollow.

NXN is the true national championship now (and has been for a few years if you ask me). Nothing will really change that for the time being. Trying to resurrect Footlocker just to keep it on life support is just delaying the inevitable.

Old Man Torres still trying to remain relevant...

This seems a bit naive to me. The national championship races (for both FL and NXN) are dependent on the revenue brought in by the regional meets, which means mass participation and large fields are key. I don't think you can deny that FL lost a ton of market share to NXN and while I don't think you can say NXN killed FL, that loss of market share more than likely contributed to its decline and cancellation.

FL just refused to innovate in the way Nike did. NXN's marketing was way better, and after a while they were putting together better fields than FL. Nike beat FL, and that is as much on FL as it is Nike.

What does Jorge do now?

A quick google search shows stories of a man who who died after allowing his girlfriend to put him in a suitcase.

Yes. I remember him running a series of indoor 3000m races at Pratt U. Happy he went on to creating bigger running events like the RnR series.

I know.....Lets get Michael Johnson and Grand Scam to get involved!!!

I think that if a sponsor was brought in relatively quickly, the race can happen this year. The infrastructure is in place, every regional race has a race director and knows what to do. Possible hurdles; securing park permits and hotels. Would there be an issue getting some of the "rights" from FL? They are giving it up, it won't be named Footlocker, so, not sure what Intellectual Property they are trying to collect money on.

As a side, it wouldn't be the dumbest idea for Nike to also sponsor the event. It would be like Coke, with owning other brands and crowding out Pepsi and others for shelf space, so anything you buy is still money in their pocket. (i.e., they own Fuze Tea, Honest Tea, Gold Peak Tea). Have the teams go to NXN and the individual go to FL, space them out a bit more. At every turn, the kids are indoctrinated with Nike gear at an early age.

Tracy/Jorge, call me. :-)

Isn't he an agent? This pair is seeing an income model first, nothing altruistic at all going on here.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Torres has been working for Global Athletics & Marketing for nearly 13 years. Here are his responsibilities:

-Recruit and develop professional athletes: track & field and distance runners
-Build and manage relationships with college/professional coaches
-Manage professional athlete careers from the small to big including: competitions, speaking engagements, travel & accommodations, camps, marketing, appearances
-Negotiate appearances and competition contracts for professional athletes
-Develop event concepts (e.g. New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Adidas New York-Diamond League, adidas Boost Boston Games, Bel Mar Chase Road Race)
-Market events including road races, community events, kid’s sporting event, professional athletics
-Work with community and city officials to cover all logistical issues including permitting requirements
-Team Leader on event build-up
-Engineered and built long jump and pole vault competition in urban areas
-Director of Adidas Boost Youth Festival
-Director of the Adidas Boost Boston Mile
-Event recruiter of talent for professional, community, high school, and youth events

Based on both his professional experience and him being a four-time Foot Locker XC qualifier and 1998 champion, I'd say he's well-qualified to assume leadership of the event.